Yanks and their MG's

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by whatnot

I'm curious. What makes disabled bomber getting back home with ½ crew better than it being shot down with entire crew MIA / POW? Or did I misunderstand?

Aside from morale ...

One of the huge issues the US had in Iraq was better body armor and combat medics meant the proportion of casualties KIA was down massively which is clearly a good thing but the number of wounded shipped home and looked after in hospital for sometimes years after went up substantially.

Its the same logic that resulted in anti-personal mines designed to maim rather than kill.

As far as the 0.303 cal in game goes, if you attack an early war bomber (blenheim, ju88, he111) in a historically fashion - from the side above below or headon - you can get acceptable results. Admittedly the he111 is a touch more immune to 0.303 cal than most of the others but its still not hard to knock out an engine or even set a wing on fire.

[KnightFandragon]

Originally Posted by David603

Set the MG convergence very short (I use 140m) and then fire from around that range, aiming for the wing roots, cockpit or engine of your target.

Even a Gladiator with 4 .303s or a Bf109D with 4 7.62mm MGs can bring down a lightly armoured opponent in a well aimed 2-3 second burst.

I have my convergence set to between 220 and 270...I play against AI and they usually dont let you get much closer then .30 away and still have a clean shot. Usually if they let you get .14 away im dodging the plane instead of aiming at it, trying not to slam into it haha. I guess maybe my convergence could be part of my problem.....I just put in a number that sounds good at the time and go with it. Also, I know the 30s can down lightly armored targets..i downed a Zero with a split second burst head on from a Spit MkI...I hit F3 for the fly by camera view and saw the Zero in the background flaming in a downward angle...was thinking to myself.."No way did a 30cal just kill something that fast" haha. I know close range helps w/ penetration but its hard to get to like 15 and below for me and still be aiming. If I get close enough like .15 it usually ends up in me getting greedy followed by a spectacular fireball.

[Erkki]

Originally Posted by KnightFandragon

I have my convergence set to between 220 and 270...I play against AI and they usually dont let you get much closer then .30 away and still have a clean shot. Usually if they let you get .14 away im dodging the plane instead of aiming at it, trying not to slam into it haha. I guess maybe my convergence could be part of my problem.....I just put in a number that sounds good at the time and go with it. Also, I know the 30s can down lightly armored targets..i downed a Zero with a split second burst head on from a Spit MkI...I hit F3 for the fly by camera view and saw the Zero in the background flaming in a downward angle...was thinking to myself.."No way did a 30cal just kill something that fast" haha. I know close range helps w/ penetration but its hard to get to like 15 and below for me and still be aiming. If I get close enough like .15 it usually ends up in me getting greedy followed by a spectacular fireball.

Online, if there are no helps on, with some practice and patience, its pretty easy to get to surprise people and fire on an unsuspecting bandit at a very close range. I always use max 150m convergence for wing guns myself, often as short as 120m. The closer the better... You know, when a 190 is the size of a P-51's (or P40/47/38's) gunsight, hes only 105m away, much closer than one might estimate.